The Hartford Courant is reporting on the lawsuit filed by RisCassi & Davis attorney Paul Iannaccone against Enterprise Rent-A-Car in the motor vehicle accident which killed Connecticut State Police trooper, Kenneth Hall.
Police said Michael Pajak was driving the rented Dodge Ram 87 mph on I-91 in Enfield on Sept. 2, 2010, when it crashed into the patrol car Hall was sitting in during a traffic stop. A truck passenger told police that Pajak had snorted both cocaine and heroin that day, and that he was so high he had trouble keeping the truck on the road.
The suit names Enterprise Rent-a-Car for renting the truck to Pajak. The company failed to require Pajak to disclose any past motor vehicle-related convictions or license suspensions.
Pajak has at least one conviction for driving under the influence on his record. His license has been suspended 10 times, although many of the suspensions were for failure to pay a ticket or show up in court.
“It would have been obvious, with even a superficial background check, that Mr. Pajak did not belong behind the wheel of a car,” said attorney Paul Iannaccone from RisCassi and Davis in a written statement. “He had many license suspensions, DUIs, and narcotics offenses in his recent past that Enterprise would have been aware of if they only looked or asked.”